The Hidden Power
by Roryth
Summary: The time has arrived and they must be ready, although the world isn´t ready for them. Finally chapter 1 up!. Please R & R
1. Prologue

Well, here's my new fanfic(and I hope I can finish it this time!), the action happens before the story told in WOT's last book, "Winter's Heart", which hasn´t been published yet in my country.Your opinions, good or bad, will be welcomed, so please review!.  
I hope you enjoy very much;-)  
  
Disclaimer: WOT belongs to Robert Jordan, and I have no intention of obtaining benefits. It´s only a little entertaiment.....  
  
Prologue: KEEPING THE POWER  
  
The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose near the forest surrounding Caemlyn. It was not the beginning, but it was A beginning.  
  
The wind travelled across Andor to the South-East, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, it crossed Murandy, touched Illian and arrived to Tear, where the powerful Callandor, The Sword that isn't a Sword, was set in the Heart of the Citadel, remembering to the altive Tear people who was their lord.  
The wind travelled on the Sea of Storms, it left behind the Sailors islands and was caught in the forest of a big island whose existence had been forgotten for ages: even Atha'an Miere people didn´t remember the route that let go to that land in a safe way.  
  
The forest had been shaken by the wind surrounded a huge, black and white stone-made construction; it was a group of large fortified towers with different heights: they surrounded a central big tower, much higher than the other ones. Despite of its militar shape, there was a lot of wide windows in the walls of the towers: what is more, some of then had been converted in little balconies. The leaves that the wind had shaken touched one of the opened doors that belonged to a balcony in the third floor.  
In front of the opened balcony, a young man was laid on a big sofa, with an opened book on his chest: apparently, he was sleeping a placid siesta in the afternoon; however, as if wind had been a sign, the young man's dream got worse, his forehead became covered with sweat and the book fell on the floor when its owner changed his position rudely. After some shaken minutes, the man woke up sweating and he looked at the roof of the floor with very opened eyes: he was impressed very much due to that dream:  
Chaos, death, destruction, darkness spread like an oil spot, the Lord of Darkness laughing when he advances his hands to destroy the Studwork...and his howls of frustration when a storming sword doesn´t let him continue. The dreamer have never seen a sword like that one, and nor he can see the warrior that takes it by the handle, but he can observe the nimbus that surrounds him, where golden dragons and black herons dance, appearing and disappearing. Suddenly, that halo fades and other one appears to surround the warrior, a nimbus that fightens the dreamer, because its white light is stained with grey. The Lord of Darkness laughs, and a black sword appears in his hand, and both enemies get ready to final fight...  
  
The man was quiet a few minutes and, suddenly he woke up resolutely, tidied himself up,dressed himself and went out of his room. His blue-grayed eyes had a look of strong resoluteness, a look that cut the greetings of a few servants who were in the corridors in that time; only some of them dared to make a reverence and to say a quickly "Light brights inside you, Master". At the end of one of the long corridors, a little gong was hanged beside big golden wooden doors: the man took a thin silver slender stick that was hanged in a little hook, and knocked three times on the gong; after, he opened the big doors and kept quiet for a moment, viewing the room.  
Located under the glass cupule of the central tower, the room was a huge semicircular auditorium that was ocuppied by fine wooden rows of seats; there were a lot of medium-sized armchairs inside of them: they were grouped by the color of its tapestry. A majestic and high stone table was located in the centre of the room, with nine armchairs behind it: both of central ones were tapestried in black.  
The young man in the threshold shook his head, walked through the room across one of the aisles, surrounded the stone table and sat on one of the black-tapestried armchairs. He was waiting.  
Little by little, the rows of seats were occupied by other men and their whispers, due to the unusual time, while they were looking at the man sat behind the table with curiosity. Finally, a little group of men entered into the auditorium and stopped before arriving to the rows of seats; inmediately, the men shut up and made a deep reverence. The group walked towards the centre of the room in a suitable, ceremonious march: when they arrived in front of the huge stone table, the man sat in the black-tapestried armchair waked up and greeted. The men in the group greeted, too, and sat in the rest of armchairs: the other armchair in black tapestry kept void.  
Only the young man stayed on foot, feeling everybody's lookings. He observed his partners: the room was only half-occupied. Everybody dressed in a similar way, a white overalls with coloured bands and a silver strip encircling their foreheads, a strip with a stone circle surrounding the ancient symbol. The bands and the circle had the same colour.  
The young man raised his hand, asking for his partners' attention:  
-Brothers, Dream came to me -he breathed and continued-Althoug we know the Lord of Darkness is damaging the outer world, someone has just appeared, someone that can face him, someone that can weave the Studwork as he likes, a man who can channel as nobody has been able to do it, since the Age of Legend.  
The young man stopped to speak. The silence could have been cut with a knife, every man in the armchairs seemed to be a leopard ready to jump.  
-Brothers, our exile is over. Our lord has come to the world and, soon, he will require all the help we can offer him. We must serve him as we sworn..and enquiry if we have sisters.-The young man had finished whispering but if he had shouted nobody would have heard him, because the auditorium was a chaos: everybody spoke at the same time except the men behind the big stone table; they were looking at the young man firmly, in silence, with pale faces. He would had wanted to calm them, but he was only the messenger: the Wheel turned as it liked, and their turn had arrived in the Studwork of the Ages.  
Karial na Albara, thanks of Light Dreamer Master in the green Al'Dal, sat again in his black-tapestried armchair and looked at the wall. The other Masters continued observing him, even the Green Master opened his mouth to speak, but a Karial's movement stopped his attempt: the Dreamer didn´t want to explain anything in that moment. In front of him, the ancient symbol brighted, a beautiful cuendillar piece, one of the few ones that his ancestors had been able to bring here, many centuries ago. The symbol of Power. Aes Sedai's symbol.  
And their symbol, too, the symbol belonging to the Din Sedai, the men trained by and to the Power.  
  
  
  
Author´s note: I'm sorry if English version has some mistakes, I´m a Spanish speaker and this text is a translation from original Spanish text...^-^ 


	2. Men who can channel

I know, I know, I have took a long time in publish this chapter, but I have been very busy(all the chiefs are little monsters...;-)). Thank you very much for reviewing the prologue, I hope you like this first chapter , too,...and I will attempt to work quicker! Of course, all your ideas about the story are welcome..  
  
Disclaimer: WOT belongs to Robert Jordan, and I have no intention of obtaining benefits. It´s only a little entertaiment.....  
  
Chapter 1. MEN WHO CAN CHANNEL  
  
-Are you sure?  
Karial avoided an angry sigh: Marain was his friend, besides he was the Master in his own Ajah, but Karial would have slapped in Marain's face in that moment: that ones was the tenth time that Marain had asked the same question.  
-I'm sure, of course. Do you think I would have convoked Assembly of Brothers if Iweren´t sure?. Our lord has introduced himself in the world, the first Master, the Dragon.-he placed himself face to face with Marain.-We have been alone for ages, because we wanted it in that way, we have developed our own methods to control the Curse: we don´t know anything about the Source in external world, we don´t know if there are people with the Talent that are being trained to Channel.What would happen if our lord were the only one, the last one in the outer world? - he attempted to keep a firm voice: that idea caused a stomachache-He needs us and it`s our engagement: the Dark One can´t appear in the World again or the Studwork will break and the Ages will disappear.  
Suddenly, Karial noticed that he left his chair and he had put his fists on the table, next to Marain. Theorically, in that meeting, the Masters of Ajahs had to discuss and make plans to execute, but in fact, the only thing that the Masters had done was to observe a discussion between the only Dreamer among Din Sedai and his Master, chief of Green Ajah. In that moment, the Grey Master raised his hand, and his voice sounded in a soft, quiet way, attempting to relax the ambient:  
-Our lord wont´t receive our help if we begin to face one another. For all of us, it´s difficult to accept that our turn has arrived, Marain, but the Dream has always been accurate, although it´s a rare thing, and we must make plans and inspect all the options quietly - this last part was a clear reference to Karial's angry attitude. Slowly, the young Dreamer controlled himself and sat down again.  
-We can´t make any plans without more information about outer world- White Master exclaimed.  
-It´s right. Because of that, I propose to consult the Stone.  
The answer to Grey Master's suggestion was a tense silence, and eyes turned to the Master of Red Ajah, the Ajah of Mortal Charms, that was its name in Al'Dal. The Red brothers had a reputation to dare to making the most difficult and complex Power web, and the most dangerous, too: a minimun mistake in a given moment and that's became tha last error. And now, the Grey Ajah had suggested the Red Ajah to use the most dangerous Power web to activate a sa'angreal.  
The Stone wasn´t that sa'angreal's real name, but his first name had been forgotten during the Dismenberment: the way to duplicate it had been lost, too. At the first sight, the sa'angreal seemed to be a simple rock, heavy and full of sharp edges, but when you looked nearer, you can appreciate a detailed carving in the Ancient Language on its surface, a carving that explained the sa'angreal's function: the Stone told the truth when you asked it some questions, the only sa'angreal that had a voice.  
The thing wasn´t so easy, of course. Activating the Stone was very, very difficult and dangerous: failing meant the death or, in the best case, the Void; because of this risk,other methods were preferred: in fact, the Stone hadn't been consulted for ages.  
The Red Master sighed.  
-It can be done- he didn´t say that he would be the Din Sedai who would attempt to activate the sa'angreal, everyone were sure about that.- But, is it necessary, really?Althoug the Stone answer our questions, its answers can be so complex to inquiry its meaning as a Dream. Karial, couldn´t you...?- he stopped speaking when the young Dreamer nodded.  
-Usually, the Dream doesn´t come to me when I invoke it, and I can´t force my Talent to Dream about the things we want when we need it-Karial replied-I know that using the Stone is dangerous, but not only we need answers, but also we need answers quickly. Time runs against us.  
The Red Master touched the ring with the Big Snake that he used to wear in his right hand; in the ring, a snake that bit its own tail rounded two crossed rays, the Red Ajah´s banner. The Red Din Sedai knew too well they ran a risk when sometimes they had to channel, and they didn´t risk if there was another option: they usually left the risk to Green and Blue brothers. But there was no chance in that moment. The Red Ajah chief took a decision and looked at his partners:  
-Tomorrow-that´s all he said.  
And everybody agreed.  
  
The room had no windows. It was located in the deepest basement in the central tower, it hadn´t any furniture and it was closed by a big iron door whose lock couldn´t be seen: the door was closed with traps of Power, and everybody that attempted to open it would have some awful surprises. Besides, the room was so small that the Masters had occupied all the available space.  
Althoug that was a secret visit ot the Stone, everyone knew that something was going to happen that afternoon. Something dangerous. Something so dangerous that the Red Master had had to called to account the Assembly of the Ajah; of course, nothing about the meeting had been commented but, if then Red Din Sedai's faces usually were a very serious faces, now it seemed that all of them had had stone to the breakfast. The rest of brothers preferred to avoid them....just in case.  
In the little room, the Stone was in the centre, put on a pedestal, in front of a normal person´s eyes. The Sedai Masters had surrounded it, the Dreamer and the Red Master in front of the sa'angreal. Suddenly, the Masters´faces turned to a deep expression: a trained eyed would have been able to see Saidin´s halo surrounding them, a bright but dirty nimbus.  
-Leave it.  
Surprised expressions appeared in the Masters´faces when they heard the Red Master´s order. The first rule to use sa'angreal was a Fire and Energy shield, to avoid non-desired surprises.  
-I said to leave it. Come on, Karial: you needn´t the Power to question. There must have no interferences or the activation web will be damaged...and I don´t know what will happen then.-Slowly, the Masters left the Only Power. The Red Master breathed deeply, concentrated..and Power threads began to surround the Stone.  
With a strong Talent, Karial didn´t need the Power to appreciate the chilling complexity of the web that the Red Master was braiding around and about the Stone: there were more and more levels of weaved threads, there was more and more sweat on the forehead of the Lord of the Ajah of Mortal Charms. The Dreamer thought that nickname was the most appropriate one: if only one of the threads got lost...  
Suddenly, a thin Energy thread tied all the webs, the Red Master left the Power...and would have fallen if the Dreamer and the Yellow Master hadn´t hold him. The Yellow Master´s sight asked the Red one, but this nodded in a negative way. Then, everybody payed attention to the Stone.  
For a moment, the Stone seemed to be indifferent respect to the sleeping power that surrounded it, but suddenly a blinding sparkle of light exploded, and the Din Sedai observed how the Power web was wawed and shaken while the sa'angreal fought to be free: created in the Age of Legend, the sa'angreal had got something like a mind and an order recorded since its birth, it only would answer if its brute force could be submitted. At the first, that requisite was only other security condition, but the lost of knowledges happened in the Dismenberment had provoked that very few people had the force   
and the experience to attempt to question to the Stone: the Red Master´s web was the most elementary way to do it, and there was no full warranty.  
After a long moment, the situation seemed to become stable and the sa'angreal began to irradiate threads of soft white light in a regular way, like a big heart. In that moment, a androgynous, commanding and suitable voice that came from the Stone, was heard by the Masters:  
-[#Created by the Power, submitted by the Power, waken up due to the necessity of knowing, conquered to answer. Power that questions to the Power. Who asks me? Where is that one that interpellate me?#]  
The Masters breathed: the activation was all right, fortunately, but a thing was missing. The Red Master pushed ahead Karial and whispered:  
- It´s your turn: be persuasive, or the Stone could refuse to answer.  
-Refuse? And do you tell me now?- Karial stared at the Red Din Sedai.  
-Don´t be nervous, Dreamer, you will do it well. Make questions carefully and attempt to get real data: our information about the Stones isn´t very much, but we know that it likes rambling a little bit.  
Karial agreed,advanced slowly and stopped in front of the sa'angreal, next to the big beating light heart.  
-I am who asks you, someone who usually Dream about the Studwork among those who can channel the One Power, the last ones among those who created you. I question your essence, I dare your ability of knowing, I put to the test your power. Will you tell me what I want to know?Will you answer me or shut up again for ages?-Even the Grey Master was impressed. Karial stayed standing in front of the sa'angreal, wondering if the Stone would be impressed enough, too.  
Again, that undefined voice:  
-[#I feel the passion of Ancient Lineage, I recognize the strength of a order, I accept the daring against me. Talk to me, son of the One Power, what is what you want to know?#] 


End file.
